A Photo Review of the Year- 2021

My Year In Review

2021

West Chester, PA 

January- I started the year by undergoing a series of radiation treatment for uterine cancer.  At the moment, all is well.

February-  I got my first Covid vaccine shot on February 2nd. Then I got in my car and drove to Florida to visit with friends. After almost a year of sitting home, this was a welcomed trip.

MARCH:  What I love about this month is the return of the snow geese to Middle Creek Reserve in PA.  These birds fly in flocks of 100,000 and they are always magnificent to watch.  I can't get enough of them.

April- For some reason, this spring seemed to be more stunningly beautiful than previous springs.  I spent this month, wandering around the area, in search of bursting gardens.  The cherry blossoms captured a lot of my time. I took hundreds of photos this month.

May- The Covid virus shut down all contact with family and friends.  So when my nephew had his first child in July 2020, it was too sad to miss so many of this little girl's big moments in her sweet life.  She was born July 2020 but I didn't get to meet her until 2021. By then, she was no longer an infant but a baby on the verge of crawling on her own.

June- I have really been making an effort to walk more steps than I had been from last year. In the midst of Covid, I was diagnosed with cancer and I did everything I could to stay healthy so that none of my treatment was delayed.  I shut myself in my apartment and some days, I didn't walk more than 300 steps.  So I set a goal to walk 5000+ a day.  To help me maintain this goal, I spent as much time as I could by visiting arboretums and gardens and other places in nature.

July- For the past 10 years, I have traveled to Colorado, this month, to visit with friends.  Usually we take a road trip.  Last summer, (2020) we didn't get together because of covid.  So it was great together together this year.  We went to Wyoming and stumbled across a rodeo.

August- Live performances are slowly come back.  I went to an Old Fiddlers' Concert where musicians just showed up and spent the day jamming with one anther. We brought our lawn chairs and a picnic and found a spot and took it all in.

September- In April, my nephew came in 2nd in the state championship for cross country.  In June, he won the state championship in the 3200 meter race and then, later that day, won the state championship for the 1600 meter race. That was exciting.  He was accepted to join a track team in college and I went to his first college meet. Last year, he ran with boys.  Now he runs with me. He finished in the top 25%.  He was disappointed but the rest of his family were thrilled.

October- I am going crazy with this covid.  We just can't seem to get ahead of it and consequently, I am restless.  In 2019, I travel about 4 months that year.  Last year, I think I travels 2 weeks.  I have ants in my pants.  So I loaded up my car and drove to Chicago and drove the entire length of Rout 66.  I ended up at Sant Monica Pier, CA and drove back.  I covered over 6600 miles and I was 66 so this was a fitting trip.

November- Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater turned one.  He, too, was born during covid so I had to wait months until I could finally, finally meet him. He is adorable.

December- Usually, I hate, hate, hate Christmas.  But this year, I didn't mind it as much. I did go on a Christmas lights hunt with my great nephew who thought we had ventured to the North Pole, in search of Santa.  And it was great fun to watch him run around, sucked in to the wonderment and magic of the holiday.  I had been invited to a Christmas Eve party and I agreed to go but I was filled with hesitance as a new variant of Covid was wreaking havoc on us.  The party was cancelled a day before the event and I was relieved.  So I went to my sister's house for Christmas Eve dinner.  We started by  participating in the lighting of the Christmas candles.  Neighbors lined their property with lit candle ulluminaries.  We had dinner and then we drove around the area in search of those neighbors who had an overwhelming abundance of outdoor Christmas decoration. The we came home and watched videos of Christmases past, when the kids, who are now in their 30's, were still believers.  For Christmas Day, another sister hosted dinner and once we all participated in a rapid Covid test, we could enjoy each other's company.  She and her husband cooked filet mignon and lobster mac and cheese.  OMG, it was good. I brought a growler of winter ale as my humble contribution.  We were taking a group photos and we were all yelling "Merry Christmas" to the camera.  And Deirdre jumped up and shout, "I'm Pregnant". And we were all thrilled.

It was a good year!!!